Victor Davis Hanson: Our New Sort of War

[Cronopio]

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZDIyMzBlZDk0NDBjZjJhYTUwNDQ0YWQ2NjcxMzRkY2I=

President Obama proclaims no more of George W. Bush’s “War on Terror,” even as he silently keeps most of it in place. The result is as confusing as it soon will be dangerous.

In these first 100 days of his presidency, Barack Obama has promised that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility will be closed within a year. He has assured us wiretapping and overseas rendition are under re-examination.

The Obama administration has also been busy tweaking terminology in an effort to put a kinder, gentler face to the war. There is no longer a “Global War on Terror”: It has been replaced by “overseas contingency operations.” ...

There is a problem with all this. While our well-meaning president is apologizing, employing euphemisms, and promising not to be Bush, his government is still also blowing apart suspected jihadists in Pakistan.

We are sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in efforts to destroy Taliban insurgents. The Obama administration has dropped the earlier rhetoric of a quick, unilateral withdrawal from Iraq. Instead, the president has embraced Gen. David Petraeus’s plan of leaving slowly as events on the ground dictate.

In other words, our new “overseas contingency operations” seem similar to Bush’s old “War on Terror.” Guantanamo Bay will still be open for at least a year. The Obama administration cannot find a country that wants back its expatriate terrorists — nor a legal solution to try terrorists caught without uniforms on the battlefield who may not be fully protected under the Geneva Convention.

The new administration has even gone to court to protect the Bush-era wiretapping policies. And it has specifically retained the right to use overseas renditions of suspected terrorists. The more things change, the more they remain the same. ...

Fighting a clear war against enemies is dangerous. Clearly not fighting a war against enemies may be more dangerous. But sort of fighting a war, while acting as if we are sort of not, may be the most dangerous thing of all.

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Not that the National Review has any credibility whatsoever in the Righteously Criticizing Contradictory And Dangerous Presidential Policies Department - but it does go to show that, if Pres. Obama hands the National Review ammunition, they're going to use it.

Bad move, Barack. Good Democrats don't defend bad Republican ideas.